YouTube atop DEMMX noms

4:00 AM PST 11/17/2006
by
Carly Mayberry
,
AP

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YouTube leads the pack with six nominations for this year's DEMMX Awards, which honor the best in digital entertainment from film to video games.

The viral-video site captured noms in two of the three best-of-show categories, including Visionary of the Year and Brand of the Year, in the event that rewards vision, innovation, entrepreneurship and brand development in 20 digital categories.

The award ceremony is the culmination of the Digital Entertainment, Media and Marketing Excellence event Nov. 29-30, which hosts more than 1,500 attendees and is sponsored by Adweek magazine, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.

YouTube received three of its nominations in the film, television and video category — for Television Technology of the Year, Best Interactive Television Programming and Best Video On-demand Service. Apple's video iPod also was nominated in the TV tech category, while Yahoo! Music's "The 9" received a nom in the Best Interactive Television Programming area.

YouTube founders Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim are on the short list for Visionary of the Year along with MySpace's Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson as well as Brightcove founder Jeremy Allaire. Google and MySpace will compete against YouTube in the Brand of the Year category.

Those honored in the overall music category include Apple's iTunes, eMusic and RealNetworks' Rhapsody 4.0 for Best Downloadable or Subscription Music Service, while MySpace and MOG joined YouTube in the Best Digital Music Community race. Other music categories include Digital Music Innovation of the Year, Best Use of Technology by an Artist and Best Radio Service.

Video game nominees in the Game Innovation of the Year category include ESPN integration in "NBA Live 07" (Electronic Arts), Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express (Microsoft Corp.) and Zuna (PopCap Games Inc.) Other categories included Console Game of the Year and Mobile Phone Game of the Year.

Speakers at this year's event include NBC Universal chief digital officer George Kliavkoff and Vince Broady, head of entertainment, games and youth at Yahoo!

Winners will be announced Nov. 29 during a gala dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.